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Today we are going to talk about Rheumatoid Arthritis Congestive Heart Failure, coronary artery disease with respect to Rheumatoid Arthritis. If you have Rheumatoid Arthritis, then you should know these facts about heart disease.  However, heart disease can have an effect on your Rheumatoid Arthritis.

Rheumatoid Arthritis Congestive Heart Failure

So, how does rheumatoid arthritis affect the heart and lungs? or why does rheumatoid arthritis cause heart problems? In these patients, coronary artery disease doesn’t always present with the classic symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis chest pain shortness breath and chest pressure. However, it progresses to end up in causing heart attacks.

Diagnose Early

Therefore, it is important to diagnose these patients early on so you can actually prevent the disease from progressing causing worse outcomes & rheumatoid arthritis heart palpitations.

Coronary Artery Calcium Screen

The way in which we would recommend diagnosing subclinical coronary artery disease in these patients with rheumatoid arthritis is using a coronary artery calcium screen. However, this process can be done with a non-contrast CT. This is a non-invasive method. It is extremely safe. The method is available in almost all tertiary care centers. The process is a non-contrast CT. Therefore, there is no risk of any contrast agent affecting the kidneys and expressions. Rheumatoid Arthritis congestive heart failure is not linked with Osteoarthritis. There is a comparison article on Rheumatoid arthritis vs Osteoarthritis, you can read if you want more info.

Just for an Idea

This can give you a very good idea of the amount of coronary artery calcium and therefore the amount of atherosclerosis in these patients. Therefore, this will allow the physician or the cardiologist who’s taking care of the patient to treat them appropriately with blood pressure medications, with beta-blockers for improving rheumatoid arthritis and heart valves function. Also, making sure that these patients are on aspirin and also on a statin medicine to reduce the cholesterol.

Verdict

Therefore, It is believed that Rheumatoid Arthritis Congestive Heart Failure can occur. It is quite important to recognize the relatability between Rheumatoid Arthritis and the coronary artery. However, some clinical coronary artery disease is of very great importance in affecting the outcomes in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. It is important to diagnose arthritis heart pain in a time-efficient manner.

Via- Balaji Tamarappoo MD, PhD

References:

1. https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/coronary-artery-disease/symptoms-causes/syc-20350613
2. https://www.healthline.com/health/coronary-artery-disease
3. https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/consumer-healthcare/what-is-cardiovascular-disease/coronary-artery-disease

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